Charter school in SF jails honored with award

San Francisco Sheriff’s Department’s Five Keys Charter School, the one-of-a-kind school that offers San Francisco jail inmates an education, was chosen Tuesday as the best charter school in Northern California.

Jail inmate Willie Eason celebrates his graduation from Five Keys Chatter School last year.

The honor from the California Charter School Association was announced at the group’s annual conference in San Jose. The association named Five Keys as the recipient of the 2014 Hart Vision Award for Charter School of the Year, an honor that recognizes “schools that have made significant contributions to CCSA’s mission to increase student achievement by supporting and expanding California’s quality charter public school movement,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a written statement.

Five Keys was the first charter school in the nation to operate inside of a correctional facility; it now operates in Los Angeles as well and has more adult students outside of the jails.

Five Keys Executive Director Steve Good said the school helps inmates and the community by allowing offenders to return home with a fresh start and an ability to contribute to society. Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi congratulated the school for its “common sense and compassionate approach to improving public safety.”

“Education is a right, not a privilege,” Good added.

“With 65 percent of state prisoners lacking a high school diploma, today’s award helps shine light on the connection between incarceration and a lack of education,” he said. “Correctional education programs have proven to lower the likelihood of returning to jail by 43% according to the 2013 Rand Corporation Correctional Education Report. If programs like Five Keys were replicated across the nation, the savings to taxpayers would be in the billions of dollars.”